Adding a Computer to the Domain

A few weeks back I needed to figure out how to add some computers to our domain. I did not want to go to every computer. There are a couple of ways to add a computer to the domain. The first is a VBS script. I am not sure where I found this script, but here it is:

Const JOIN_DOMAIN       = 1
Const ACCT_CREATE       = 2
Const ACCT_DELETE       = 4
Const WIN9X_UPGRADE      = 16
Const DOMAIN_JOIN_IF_JOINED  = 32
Const JOIN_UNSECURE      = 64
Const MACHINE_PASSWORD_PASSED = 128
Const DEFERRED_SPN_SET    = 256
Const INSTALL_INVOCATION   = 262144

strDomain  = "DOMAIN"
strPassword = "PASSWORD"
strUser   = "USERNAME"

Set objNetwork = CreateObject("WScript.Network")
strComputer = objNetwork.ComputerName

Set objComputer = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=Impersonate}!\\" & _
  strComputer & "\root\cimv2:Win32_ComputerSystem.Name='" & _
    strComputer & "'")

ReturnValue = objComputer.JoinDomainOrWorkGroup(strDomain, _
                        strPassword, _
                        strDomain & "\" & strUser, _
                        NULL, _
                        JOIN_DOMAIN + ACCT_CREATE)
                        

This script is really nice. It runs without a command prompt opening. It also does not require any additional files to work.

There is another script that does the same thing, it is a little more simple. First you need to get netdom.exe from the Windows XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools. Once you have downloaded the Support Tools and placed netdom.exe in the C:\Windows\System32 folder you can run this script:

netdom.exe join %computername% /domain:"DOMAIN" /userd:"USERNAME" /passwordd:"PASSWORD"

We created a special account that can add computers to the domain. If you use this script a lot you may want to make sure that the password does not expire on the account. Both of these methods can be run through Altiris solutions. Good luck.